First years!
by 873.52
Summary: When Inui's ‘Ultra-Modern Inui mega-rejuvenating formula’ rejuvinates a couple of their teammates bit TOO much, the Seigaku boy's tennis team is in for a loong summer training camp. some possible swearing.although a bit implied, no particular pairings
1. Chapter 1

Seigaku's boy's tennis club regulars had been bused off towards a remote vacation home in the mountains for another training ca

Yay. Another story. Although I made sure that this time, I wrote quite a few chapters beforehand before posting this first one! So updates _shouldn't_ be too painfully slow like the other stories. --;;

Disclaimer: I do not own PoT

Spoilers for some stuff only revealed near the end of the series.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Seigaku's boy's tennis club regulars had been bused off towards a remote vacation home in the mountains for another training camp during their summer break for a month. They were mostly fine with that(ignoring the occasional grumbling and complaints from quite a few of the boys). However, at this moment, the kids were in a critical situation in which they could not find a way to worm completely out of.

(Most of) the team stared with looks of pure horror at the suspiciously prettily coloured "Ultra-modern Inui mega-rejuvenating formula" which was clear, emerald green and gave off the deceptively beautiful image of it being not unlike a jewel as it sat innocently on a table with sunlight splaying over it.

Somehow, this new effort Inui seemed to have put into making this particular drink seem more edible than his past ones did not put his teammates at any more ease than they were before with his other drinks. Rather, it stroke fear even deeper into their hearts as they became afraid of the possibility of drinking one of Inui's drinks accidentally, thinking it to be a normal beverage.

"So." Inui said, gesturing his hand towards his new product proudly, "who would like to have the honour of trying out this 'Ultra-Modern Inui mega-rejuvenating formula'?"

Momoshiro gave an involuntary shudder.

Oishi fought the urge to run away, but just stepped back a little.

Eiji whimpered and inched behind Oishi, and warily peeped out at Inui from behind his friend's shoulder.

Kawamura bit the inside of his mouth and felt his knees weaken a little out of fear.

Kaidoh clenched his fists, feeling cold sweat on the palms of his hands.

Ryoma pulled the rim of his cap down to hide his nervous grimace.

Fuji just kept smiling as usual.

Tezuka merely twitched an eyebrow but otherwise gave no other reaction.

"Figures." Inui replied, for some odd reason seeming to be satisfied with his teammates' ungrateful responses. He probably calculated the probabilities of what each of their reactions would be beforehand, no doubt, and was merely satisfied with his accuracy.

"Having calculated the probability of your guys' responses to be collectively unenthusiastic as being 99.99 percent…" Inui continued, as he rummaged around for something. Finding what he needed, his glasses gleaming momentarily as he turned to face them, Inui held up a bag with tiny slips of paper in them.

"I decided to choose the lucky first-taster of this product by pure chance."

"Please don't let it be me." Eiji breathed, praying in his head as Inui stuck his hand into the bag.

Everyone waited nervously, as this was something completely out of their control, and they had to depend on pure luck to escape this predicament.

As Inui finally pulled out a slip of paper, the boys stared at him with bated breath, wondering who amongst them would be the doomed one.

"Oh, and before I read this name." Inui said, before looking at the name in his hand, "I will tell you that whoever gets chosen will be able to pick another person to drink the new formula as well."

The boys looked at each other nervously. _Two of them?_

Fuji perked up a little, now his reluctance of being picked gone. Since either way, he could see someone suffer.

Ryoma tried not to notice his smiling sempai's disturbingly more cheerful demeanor at this new rule, and concentrated his nervous gaze on his other sempai, Inui, instead. "So," Ryoma gulped, trying very hard not to sound frightened, "who is it?"

Inui then unfolded the slip of paper, and then stared at Eiji, who stared back, eyes widening in horror as the seconds ticked by. "It's…"

Inui picked up the glass of pretty liquid and started slowly walking towards the terrified redhead. "…yours."

"Eh?" Kikumaru blinked as Inui suddenly turned from him at the last second and thrust it towards the second shortest member of the team.

Fuji chuckled, amused at the expression on Eiji's face, as he took the glass from Inui. "Thanks." He said, politely.

"Nyaa! That was mean Inui…." Eiji grunted, feeling just about ready to drop on the ground as the tension built from the moment slowly leaked out of his body.

"So Fuji, whom do you choose?" Inui asked, the rest of the team realizing in renewed horror that the situation hadn't gotten any better than before. Considering the person who had the choice of whom to make suffer was a sadist, despite his deceptively friendly mannerisms.

"Hmm, I choose…" Fuji thought, looking around, suppressing the urge to laugh out loud at the looks of fright on the others' faces. He made sure to look at everyone's face for at least three seconds each so as to make them sweat.

The boys waited in bated breath once again and willed for this agonizing event to be over. Fuji finally seemed to make a decision and then turned cheerfully towards their stoic captain. "Tezuka Kunimitsu!"

The rest of the team let go of their breaths that they hadn't noticed they had been holding until then. Although they felt sorry for their captain, they knew that between any of the nine team members, the two chosen to drink the juice(other than Inui of course) were probably the best choices considering their tolerance towards the suspicious Inui concoctions.

Oishi watched worriedly as his two classmates/teammates dutifully drank the green fluid.

All was silent, as the boys waited for their reactions. Inui with a pen dutifully poised above an open green notebook.

The two third-years stood silently for about half a minute until the horror started. Perhaps it was because he was smaller, Fuji reacted to the drink a few seconds before Tezuka did.

'clunk' the glass slipped out of Fuji's grasp and fell on the wooden floor, leaving a crack in the cup.

"Fuji(sempai)!" Oishi, Kaidoh, Momoshiro, Kawamura, Eiji, and Ryoma, collectively shocked and even more worried when the latter suddenly clutched at his chest in a rare display of discomfort.

"Tezuka(buchou)!" They also turned towards their captain in bewilderment as a similar reaction took place a few seconds later with the other boy as well.

A few minutes later, the boys all just stared.

Fuji was only half-conscious, vaguely wondering why he was so uncomfortable. He was breathing heavily, was on his hands and knees on a wooden floor, hands and face sweating profusely. His foggy mind idly wondered where the hell he was, and why his clothes felt much too large on him.

He then fell over, losing consciousness.

Tezuka grimaced, disliking how unclear and muddled his brain felt. He vaguely puzzled over why his clothes felt so baggy, and why he was at such unease. Somewhat slightly relieved that his glasses were still on his face, but still wondering why he was kneeling on the ground, Tezuka finally fell, unconscious before he hit the floor.

"This…" Oishi croaked out, as he tried not to lose his mind.

Eiji just stared with his mouth open, at loss for words at the moment.

"A bit.. _too_.. ah, rejuvenating isn't it, sempai?" Ryoma commented weakly when he finally found his voice to be functioning.

A few hours later, Tezuka woke up, brain still feeling slightly like mush. It took a few moments for his mind to register that the ceiling he was staring at was unfamiliar, and so was the room he was in. Sitting up quickly, he looked around for his glasses. Finding them right next to the futon, Tezuka put them on, feeling slightly less vulnerable now that he could see decently.

Fuji's eyes snapped open, his foggy but subconsciously sharp brain letting him know something was very wrong. He sat up quickly, finding himself in a room he did not recognize. Then, he blinked, his eyes meeting those of the other occupant of the room who looked just as confused as he felt.

"Hi Tezuka."

"Hi." Tezuka replied, a bit relieved at finding at least one familiar thing(person) in the strange environment. "Where are we?"

"I don't know" Fuji replied, shrugging, somehow still smiling. Then, he stood up slowly, taking care not to trip on his overly long sweatpants. He then bent down and rolled them up so he could manage to walk, and also pulled the string around the waist of the pants tighter and tied it to prevent them from falling off. Fuji then rolled up his overly large sleeves.

Tezuka looked at his own clothes, and also proceeded to do the same, noting that the garments that he wore seemed to be a size larger than the other boy's. "Do you know why we're wearing the Seigaku regular's jerseys?"

Fuji just shook his head, letting the other boy know that he did not know what the hell was going on either.

Tezuka wondered how the latter could still be smiling in such a strange situation. "This is interesting." Fuji muttered happily, answering his unspoken question.

Tezuka just shook his head, not wanting to understand what went on this strange kid's brain. "What to do now?" he asked, looking towards Fuji.

"I don't know," Fuji replied, walking towards the shoji. "Let's just figure out where we are." Tezuka hurriedly walked after him, not wanting to be left alone in this strange place, although he would never admit it.

"Hmm…" Fuji muttered, "I hear voices over there." He said, and then stopped in front of a door.

"WHAT?" an angry voice thundered from the other side. Tezuka and Fuji looked at each other, and then at the door, this time a bit more doubtfully. Although the voice of their coach was familiar, it didn't mean that they wanted to walk right into the middle of her ragings.

So they agreed, unspoken, to wait a bit longer before entering the room and stood still.

"I am terribly sorry about this, Ryuzaki-sensei." Inui's voice floated through the door meekly. "I will make sure to find the antidote as soon as possible."

_Antidote?_ Tezuka blinked, quirking his eyebrow, meeting eyes with the equally confused Fuji for a moment before they both looked at the door again.

"I still kind of find this hard to believe…" an unfamiliar voice muttered.

"Fshuu…." Another strange voice hissed, apparently in agreement, as a younger voice responded.

"Wow, Kaidoh-sempai and Momoshiro-sempai agreeing…such a rare sight."

"Shut it, ya brat." The first voice responded nonchalantly.

_Find what hard to believe?_ Tezuka and Fuji were becoming a little worried now as they silently stood still in front of the door. Besides, neither of them knew of sempais named Kaidoh, nor Momoshiro, nor did they recognize the other voice that had talked.

"Well, I guess I'll go check on them" Oishi said with a sigh, and a scrape was heard as he stood up.

"I'll go too nya!" they heard Eiji pipe up excitedly, "It's been a while since I've seen Fuji and Tezuka as first years after all!"

The two stood, frozen in shock momentarily as the words last spoken sunk in.

Oishi and Eiji stumbled back in surprise as they opened the door to find the two aforementioned already there. They stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before Tezuka spoke.

"What…?"

"Wow, it seems everyone has grown so big, ne Tezuka?" Fuji suddenly said nonchalantly, quickly regaining his composure and smiling again.

Tezuka blinked, and then looked at Fuji, wondering for the thousandth time if anything could faze this kid. Deciding he didn't want to know, he finished his question.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Well…" Oishi started, and then sighed, gesturing towards two chairs. "You two might as well sit down first."

As the two started to walk across the room however, they were assaulted by Eiji, who grabbed both their necks in a bear hug. "Fuji and Tezuka are so cute now nyah!"

"Eiji, let them go." Coach Ryuzaki warned sternly. "However small they seem now, they're still the same people."

"Woah.." Momoshiro looked at the two, now younger sempais of his. "This is so strange." He then looked at Kaidoh, "Kaidoh, we're older than buchou and Fuji-sempai right now."

"I know, moron." Kaidoh grunted, although he too seemed a bit disoriented with that fact.

"I am not a moron, you stupid-"

"Now, now, stop it you two." Kawamura stepped in to stop the beginning of another bicker.

"They are our Kouhai?" Fuji muttered thoughtfully so only Tezuka could hear him as they stopped to look at the two.

They were about to start walking again when a kid that was quite obviously a freshman came to stand in front of them.

"Hmm…" Ryoma said, looking at the two who were now practically the same height as him. "Buchou is still taller than me." He said, looking at Tezuka, but then smirked at Fuji, "but it seems that you are smaller now, Fuji-sempai."

"And who might you be?" Fuji answered, smile still in place.

The rest of the room fell silent.

Ryoma blinked, caught unawares for a moment, "what?"

"It seems." Inui stated matter-of-factly, "that along with their physical beings being turned back into their bodies as a freshman, their memories also only go up to that point."

"Wait, does that mean you two don't know us?" Momoshiro exclaimed, trotting over to the three youngsters, with Kaidoh trudging reluctantly, but curiously, along.

"Nope." Fuji replied cheerfully, looking up at the two, while Tezuka merely shook his head.

After forty-five minutes, the two were finally informed of their situation, and reintroduced to their kouhai. Coach Ryuzaki, finally seeming to notice that their clothes were a bit too large to move around comfortably in, she called Ryoma over.

"Echizen, go, take Fuji with you and lend him some of your clothes." She then turned to Tezuka. "Tezuka, you will borrow Fuji's clothes. Although I'm afraid they may be slightly large on you, Echizen's clothes will probably be too small."

"Just because you two have gotten into this ah, peculiar situation, doesn't mean I'll let either of you slack off." Coach Ryuzaki continued. "This is still a tennis training camp, you will both play."

"Of course." Tezuka replied briskly, and followed Fuji, who walked out while chuckling.

Ryoma still felt a little strange having his two sempais being eye-level with him. Although he was a little creeped out with Fuji's unusual unresponsiveness to the situation, it was still a little better to know that their personalities were still completely the same. At least, it was comforting to know in the case of the captain.

"Here sempai," Ryoma grunted, shoving a bundle of clothes at the now shorter boy, who smiled and thanked him. Fuji then turned around, and locating his own bag, handed some clothes to Tezuka.

"When you boys are done, come outside ready to practice!" Coach Ryuzaki's voice shouted from the other room.

The three walked down the hallway towards the door that led outside, having finished changing. "So," Fuji started, looking over at Ryoma, smile still in place, "you are a freshman on the regular team?"

Ryoma shrugged, "Aren't you on it too, sempai?"

"Ahaha, no." Fuji replied, "I was under the impression freshmen were not allowed to be in the ranking tournaments."

"They're not." Ryoma replied, smirking at Tezuka, "but my buchou generously made an exception for me to enter."

Fuji chuckled at Tezuka, as the boy's eyebrow twitched in irritation. "You must be very good then." Fuji said, turning back to Ryoma.

"Maybe." Ryoma replied, opening the door.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

Note: this story takes place rather early in the PoT storyline. So early in fact, that the last school they played against recently was Fudoumine(and the first time).


	2. Chapter 2

The others were already starting to warm up, volleying with each other

Disclaimer: I do not own PoT

Note: as mentioned before, this story occurs very early in the PoT plotline. So Ryoma's skills still haven't developed much. Although Ryoma is veery good even in the beginning, he's not good _enough_ to be a great challenge to Tezuka… and therefore not to Fuji either… if he felt like playing.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The others were already starting to warm up, volleying with each other.

"Fuji, Ryoma, start volleying with each other to warm up." Coach Ryuzaki said briskly to them, as they appeared. "Tezuka, come here."

"Hai, Ryuzaki-sensei." Tezuka replied politely, walking over, as the other two walked off and started warming up.

"So Tezuka." Ryuzaki said, looking at the now smaller buchou. "See how much the team has grown."

"They are very good." Tezuka replied. "Oishi and the others have improved greatly."

"Definitely."

"Ryuzaki-sensei," Tezuka said, slightly hesitantly "what about.."

"Hmm?" she replied, blinking at the unusual lack of firmness in the boy's voice.

Quickly regaining his composure, Tezuka finished the question this time, albeit his heart still a bit heavy, "What about Fuji? Has he improved?"

Ryuzaki sighed, understanding now why Tezuka had hesitated. "Other than his strength and endurance improvement that probably came from his growing physically, I honestly can not tell."

Tezuka tensed a bit more upon knowing that Fuji, even in his third and final year, still hadn't felt the motivation to play seriously. "Oh." Was his only reply.

Everyone gathered around after the coach called them over after 20 minutes of warming up.

"So what do you think about your former fellow freshmen now, eh Fuji?" Ryuzaki said, looking over at the small boy, who just looked back at with his smile.

"Everyone has improved greatly." He replied, cheerful as always. "Even in warm-ups, I can tell how much better their playing has become."

Tezuka looked at him, wanting to say something, but opted to not. He decided that risking the possibility of getting Fuji in a bad mood was a bad idea.

However, it seemed his cautions were in vain, as Eiji unknowingly said what would get the prodigy upset.

"Yea, but unfortunately none of us have been able to beat you nor Tezuka nya!"

Fuji looked at him, still smiling, yet Tezuka could tell that the boy was feeling some uncertainty. "Have either Tezuka or I beaten the other?" The question seemed innocent enough.

"Well, come to think of it, neither of you have played each other." Kawamura replied to this.

Tezuka sweat-dropped as he saw Fuji's fists clench.

_Damn_. Fuji was upset. Tezuka only hoped his outlet for frustration would not be too damaging.

"Hey, why don't you two play each other now?" Momoshiro suggested, everyone but Tezuka completely oblivious to the smiling, young boy's change in mood.

"That won't be necessary, ne Tezuka?" Fuji said, somehow managing to keep his voice just as smooth as usual. He smiled at Tezuka, who merely grunted. Inwardly, Fuji was extremely irritated. Did that mean that even as third years, he still hadn't been able to play a serious game against Tezuka yet? Did that mean that after all that time, Tezuka still would not be able to play to his full strength? Also, if that were the case and no one had managed to beat Tezuka…

"Fuji-sempai." Ryoma's voice broke the boy's train of thought.

"Yes?" he replied sweetly, making Tezuka feel a little sorry for the other freshman.

"Now that we're warmed up, let's play a match." Ryoma challenged, determinedly.

"Of course, if Ryuzaki-sensei doesn't mind." Fuji grinned wider, looking at the coach.

"Sure, go on." She said, not seeing anything wrong with that.

"Who do you think'll win?" Kawamura asked, as they watched the two walk onto the court, with the coach as the ref.

"Well, I mean, Fuji-sempai is good, but he has the skills of when he was a freshman right now." Momoshiro said, "So I think Echizen will win." He finished confidently.

"However," Inui murmured, "the skill of Fuji has always been indiscernible. You never know."

"I can't imagine Fujiko-chan losing though." Eiji piped up, "even if he _is_ smaller than the ochibi at the moment, I don't think he'll lose."

"What do you think, Tezuka?" Oishi said, looking down at the latter.

Tezuka sighed. Everyone looked at him, "I don't know how good this Echizen is… however" he continued, "there is no way he can win against Fuji right now."

"How would you know, buchou?" Momoshiro answered, getting defensive for his small friend, "Echizen is very good."

"Because" Tezuka replied, fixing Momoshiro with a piercing look, "Fuji is in a very nasty mood at the moment." Also, if that Echizen could not beat me while my arm was still not fully functional, then he would not be able to beat Fuji, he wanted to add, but didn't.

"Nasty mood?" Oishi said, looking worriedly at the two on the court. "Since when does Fuji ever get in a nasty mood?"

"Rarely." Tezuka answered bluntly.

"How does that change anything?" Momoshiro asked, confused how this could somehow make Fuji a better tennis player. Wouldn't anger usually cloud a person's judgment?

"I have never before seen Fuji play seriously." Inui said, "and unfortunately he may not be doing it anytime soon. However," he continued, "angry mood might make Fuji be more into playing than usual."

"Hanya? Then does that mean he usually isn't into playing very much?" Eiji asked, surprised.

"Come to think of it, he does give up on drills easily." Oishi pondered, "and also never seems tired or frustrated."

"I almost feel sorry for this Echizen." Tezuka muttered, "Fuji really wants an outlet for his frustration right now, and Echizen has gone up and foolishly offered one."

"Echizen is using his right hand." Kaidoh muttered, causing the others to put their attention back on the two who were beginning. "He's starting off immediately with his twist serve."

_Twist serve?_ Tezuka thought, somewhat impressed. _Interesting, yet it would not overwhelm Fuji. _"I wonder, if Fuji will go right for the kill?" Tezuka said thoughtfully, "or toy with his opponent's mind first?"

The cryptic way in which the captain muttered that made the team shudder somewhat, as they waited for Echizen to serve. The team members suddenly now doubting their knowledge of what they thought they knew of Fuji's abilities.

Ryoma's serve was immediately returned with the rising shot, catching the boy unawares.

"Love-15"

Ryoma smirked, seeing as his twist shot had been ineffective as he had expected, he changed his hold on his racket from his right to his left hand.

Tezuka held back the urge to slap his hand on his face. _This guy…_ _is so… dead._ Before this, he knew that Echizen was just going to be smushed. Now he was just plain dead.

"Ah, a southpaw, eh?" Fuji said, smiling. Inwardly, his insides churned with even more frustration and irritation towards…well… everything. Echizen was left-handed. Just like Tezuka. Echizen was a talented tennis-player at such a young age. Just like Tezuka.

This match with Echizen reminded him so much of his bitter match with Tezuka, that it was all he could do from grinding his teeth in fury. _Too bad that I'm also intent on crushing you._ Fuji thought bitterly.

Just like he did with Tezuka.

Ryoma had only seen his sempai play twice in a match before, and one of them ended rather quickly, while the other was in a doubles match where they had forfeited. All in all, Ryoma only knew that this particular sempai was good enough to be in the regulars, but he wasn't quite sure how good. Also, considering he now had the skills of a first year… but Ryoma didn't dare let his guard down. His twist serve hadn't even fazed him.

"Why is Fuji so angry anyway?" Oishi asked, puzzled.

Everyone looked at Tezuka, waiting for an answer. The latter just stood, quietly watching the match. "Nee, Tezuka, why?" Eiji pressed curiously.

"There's no need to know." Tezuka answered bluntly, with a final tone in his voice.

"love-30"

Ryoma blinked, there was something definitely …off.. about his sempai. He just couldn't put a finger to it. _Stupid smiling face…_ Ryoma thought, _I can't tell anything what he's thinking_. And how was he losing points so quickly to his opponent anyway?

"Game Fuji, 3-0"

The rest of the regulars gaped. Yes, none of them were surprised that Fuji was winning, yet, this was still first-year Fuji. And also, they didn't expect Ryoma to be losing.. this.. badly.

Fuji was aware that he was being more reckless than usual. He knew that he could be entertained by prolonging the match and forcing his opponent to think of better ways to play against him. Since he could see that this Echizen would be especially entertaining to toy with compared to others.

However, he found himself not particularly caring at the moment.

Before he could stop himself, his smile faded and his eyelids opened, revealing icy, cerulean eyes filled with irritation and frustration.

Ryoma found himself subconsciously gripping the tennis ball harder in surprise, as he saw the sudden change in his opponent's expression. Was his normally smiling sempai….angry?

"Eeeh, Fujiko-chan really is angry nya!" Eiji exclaimed, stepping back at the sudden change in his friend's demeanor.

"I wasn't aware that he was this good even as a freshman though." Kawamura muttered in disbelief. "Echizen can't even win a game."

"Game Fuji, 4-0"

Inui looked up, surprised, and started scribbling furiously in one of his newer notebooks.

Ryoma stared. _What the hell…?_ He had never seen anyone receive a smash in quite that manner before. _I knew from that Fudoumine match that he could hit a return that doesn't bounce, and now this?_

"Interesting." Fuji muttered, "I didn't expect a Freshman other than Tezuka have me pull out my counters."

"Have any more?" Ryoma smirked, arrogantly.

"Maybe." Fuji answered, still smiling.

"Game match and set Fuji Syusuke 6-0" Ryuzaki said in amazement. She knew that Fuji was good, but _this_ good since freshman year?

"Good game, sempai." Ryoma grunted, but then added on with a hint of confusion. "Have you ever even _tried_ during all these years though?"

Fuji just smiled, and without saying anything, walked off towards the coach.

"Sensei, may I go use the restroom?" he asked permission politely.

"Sure thing." Ryuzaki replied, and was about to say more when the boy just immediately walked off, ignoring his teammates as he walked past them.

"What are you all doing, standing there?" Ryuzaki yelled at her silent team. "Get started on your training menus that Inui prepared for you." As everyone scrambled around, getting started on their training, Tezuka came up to the coach.

"Sensei, may I.." Tezuka started, albeit a little hesitantly .

"What?"

"Sensei, may I go check on Fuji?" he finished his request this time.

Ryuzaki sighed, and told him to go. Knowing that that was probably the best solution at the moment.

Fuji gripped the bathroom sink tightly as he took three, deep shuddering breaths. He then glared at himself in the mirror, sorely disappointed with himself for losing his temper like that. He wondered when he was going to get over it, and stop himself from lashing out whenever he was reminded of the bitter match.

He then heard a knock on the door. Clearly not in the best of moods, he was about to tell the person to go to hell when he remembered that he had just berated himself over getting angry so easily. So instead, he smiled and answered sweetly "Yes?"

Tezuka opened the door, "Ah Tezuka." Fuji said, seeing who the person was. "You should ask before you come in. What if I were actually using the toilet?"

Tezuka twitched, obviously not one to appreciate humour. "You know that I knew you weren't."

They fell silent, and Fuji looked back at the mirror, opening his eyes and letting his smile fade thoughtfully. "Maybe I should go apologize to Echizen for taking out my anger on him."

"No, that's tactless." Tezuka stopped him quickly, quirking an eyebrow at the weirdness of his friend. Seriously, what kind of person would appreciate it if someone who just beat you came up and apologized for playing harder than usual?

"But-"

"No."

"Okay then, if you say so." Fuji shrugged, and then looked back down at the sink again blankly.

"Are you still bitter…" Tezuka started, "Syusuke?" he used his first name to let the latter know that the conversation was in serious mode.

"I…" Fuji frowned, and then looked up at the other boy, locking eyes with him. "Kunimitsu, what if we weren't ever able to have an actual match against each other?"

"You have such little faith in me?" Tezuka asked, raising an eyebrow, feeling strange to be the one mocking.

Fuji bit his lip, and looked away.

"Will you wait for me?" Tezuka suddenly asked quietly. Fuji looked up at him, surprised. "Can you?" Tezuka pressed, staring intently at the other's face.

"It better be worth the wait." Fuji finally replied after a few silent moments, a small, genuine smile gracing his features.

Tezuka nodded curtly in approval, satisfied with the answer, and turning on his heel, walked briskly back out.

It had been at least ten minutes since Fuji had come back from the restroom, and Ryuzaki could already tell that whatever Tezuka said or did had worked quite well. Quite well enough, that in fact, the small prodigy seemed to be in a better mood than usual. How could the coach actually _tell_ that the eternally smiling boy was actually feeling better? It was simple really. She could already feel a subconscious migraine coming up.

"OW!" Momshiro rubbed the back of his head as he felt a tennis ball connect.

"Ah, sorry." Fuji trotted over, apologizing with his usual smile. "Monohiro-kun was it?"

"Oh that's alright sempai." The second year replied, somewhat confused. Since when did Fuji-sempai ever lose control of the ball like that? "and it's Momoshiro. And since you are my sempai, you can just call me Momo or Momoshiro."

_Here it starts_. Ryuzaki groaned inwardly. She had almost forgotten how much more immature the first-year Fuji had been.

"ACK!" THUD

"Oishi!"

"Oh god, sempai!"

"What happened? Oishi!"

"Oops." Fuji said innocently. "It seems I have accidentally handed him Inui's water bottle instead of his own." He shook it, slightly curious as to what could be in there that had rendered the other boy unconscious. Then he squatted down and patted the latter's head. "Sorry about that Oishi."

The third years sweat-dropped, feeling a sense of dread settle in their hearts along with the nostalgia they experienced from looking at the younger forms of two of their team members.

Ryuzaki wished she had aspririn with her.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hehehe… I love writing about younger versions of characters. 


	3. Chapter 3

"BURNING" Kawamura yelled, swinging his racket around energetically the moment Fuji handed it to him innocently

Disclaimer: I do not own PoT

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"BURNING" Kawamura yelled, swinging his racket around energetically the moment Fuji handed it to him innocently. At the same time, conveniently 'not noticing' there being someone right behind the boy.

"Argh!" Momoshiro fell to the ground, eyes swirling after being hit full force by the strong swing of his sempai.

"Ah sorry!" Kawamura exclaimed, turning around in shock to see that the thing his racket had connected with was another person. He threw his racket on the ground, going back into meek mode.

Now there were two out.

Ryuzaki wondered how she had gotten through a whole year of coaching two years ago, and remembered she very nearly hadn't. She then cursed Tezuka under her breath for actually succeeding in improving his friend's mood.

"Ouch!" Ryoma stumbled as he felt a racket connect with the back of his head. Annoyed, he turned around to look at the person who had thrown the offending object. He blinked as he saw Fuji-sempai brushing himself off as he picked himself up from the ground.

"Sorry about that Echizen, I tripped and I accidentally let go of my racket." Fuji explained apologetically. Although with the unmoving smile, the apology didn't seem too apologetic.

"Oh, okay." Ryoma answered, handing the racket back to his sempai. Although usually, Ryoma would have made a snide comment about not having a good enough grip, he decided not to, as this was Fuji-sempai. Perhaps it was purely accidental or just…a rare occurrence?

"Thanks." The latter said, taking the racket.

"Hey Fuji." Inui started, whisking out a flask of his penal-tea. Perhaps, considering Inui juice still had not been introduced in the beginning of their first year, Fuji will not be able to handle it, not expecting such a strange flavour. "Would you like to try this new drink that I have developed? It's still in the making, but I would like you to give me an opinion on it."

Fuji blinked, and stared at the strange looking liquid in the cup that was handed to him. He then looked up. "I haven't even agreed to try it yet though."

"Please?" Inui said. Although they were teammates, he also realized that it was probably healthier for everyone to just render the boy unconscious.

Fuji shrugged, and took a sip. He then paused, "interesting" he commented, his smile not even faltering(much to the dismay of the others). He then finished the rest of the drink quickly. "Is it alright if I asked for another cup, Inui?" he asked innocently.

"Sure." Inui replied, pouring him another cup.

Eiji shook his head disbelievingly. He never understood why and how his friend appreciated the horrid concoctions.

Fuji then filled his little mouth with as much penal-tea as possible, making sure to not swallow any. He then looked down, and his small shoulders shuddered a little, making the others wonder(hope) if the boy actually couldn't handle the juice after all. Then suddenly-

"choo!" Fuji suddenly looked up and sneezed right in Kaidoh's face, splattering the poor boy with the red liquid.

Kaidoh froze, and immediately pursed his lips to make sure none of the…stuff… got into his system. Horrified with what he was covered in, he quickly ran inside to wash himself off.

"oops." Fuji chuckled, as he watched the boy run away fearfully.

When practice ended, Ryuzaki told the boys to go take a bath at the hot springs that was nearby. Thankfully, they had only ended up with two casualties, which was pretty good for when there was a first-year Fuji in a good mood.

Said casualties were okay after an hour or so anyhow, and were conscious now.

Kaidoh growled in annoyance as Momoshiro's rigorous shampooing caused foam to splatter in his face.

"Be more considerate, you moron." He snapped.

"It's a bath. You're bound to get splattered a bit." Momoshiro replied, smirking. "Stop having such a hissy-fit mamushi."

"I am not having a hissy-fit you idiot."

"Yes you are. And you're the idiot."

"No I-"

"Come on guys, it's not good to fight." Oishi cut in, breaking up the building argument.

Tezuka looked around, irritated at his less than useful vision without his glasses. "Here"

He paused, frowning at the fuzzy vision of the smiling tensai, who seemed to be holding out a bottle. Knowing better than to trust the boy right off the bat, he answered.

"I don't need the shaving cream Fuji. I'm looking for the soap."

"Ah, Tezuka. You're no fun." Fuji replied with a chuckle, handing him the actual bottle of soap.

Tezuka thanked him. Twelve-year olds didn't need shaving cream anyhow.

Eiji looked curiously at the shampoo Inui seemed to have brought personally. "Inui, do you make your own shampoo too nya?"

"Actually yes." Inui replied, "would you like to try it?"

The redhead refused quickly; and quite forcefully.

Ryoma stared at Kawamura's hands and arms, noticing for the first time the various cuts and bruises that were there.

"Oh, these?" Kawamura explained, noticing the freshman's questioning gaze. "I help out with my dad's restaurant, where I do things that involve cutting food and carrying heavy things."

"Oh, right." Ryoma replied, glad that his wildest ideas of maybe his kindly seeming sempai being involved in fighting, being disproved.

After they washed, the boys steeped and relaxed in the steaming hot spring. Or at least.. some of them tried to.

"Stupid peach, stop splashing!"

"I'm not! You are, you stupid viper!"

Ryoma sighed.

"You see, I have developed this new type of bath salt that-"

"Inui, I don't think it's really necessary to-"

"But you see Oishi, I made sure that inside it, there would be lots of beneficial-"

"No Inui, I think that we'll be healthier if-"

Ryoma floated over to Kawamura's side. "Is it okay if I sit here sempai? It's noisy over there."

Kawamura sweat-dropped at the boy's comment. "Sure thing Echizen." He then looked over at the rest of the boys. "you're right about that."

"Don't swim in the springs Fuji." Tezuka commanded monotonously.

"But I'm not. I'm merely wading." Fuji replied, still smiling.

"Then stop being so fidgety. "

"But Tezukaaa!" Fuji made sure his voice had a whiny tone to it, just because he knew that it would irritate the other boy. He slapped the water in front of the boy's face for good measure.

Tezuka twitched, not able to hide his irritation, although he knew that the other boy was doing it on purpose. "Shut. Up."

"Ah Tezuka, It hurts my feelings when you say mean things like that." Fuji said, not being very convincing, considering his expression still hadn't changed.

_Flat out lie!_ Eiji thought, as he caught this.

"I am so sorry." Tezuka growled, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ryoma stared at his two sempai turned-small. "Were they really like that two years ago?"

Kawamura blinked, "Yea. I understand your confusion, but it's true. Fuji has really calmed down compared to how he was two years ago, and Tezuka has also gotten a bit more statue-like."

Ryoma nodded. Calmed down, definitely. And their buchou was definitely a lot more expressive at the moment.

Fuji sunk his head down in the water until only his eyes and above were above the water, and idly blew bubbles; completely ignoring the disapproving looks he was receiving from Tezuka, of course.

After everyone was done bathing, they all gathered to eat dinner. They were separated into two tables of third years and younger classmen. Although Tezuka and Fuji _would_ be third years, they were literally first years at the moment, so they were put with the younger boys.

"Sorry about that you two, but you both _are_ freshmen." Ryuzaki said apologetically.

"I understand, Sensei. No offence taken." Tezuka replied politely.

"That's alright Sensei. I realize that it can't be helped." Fuji answered as well, still smiling.

The third years were inwardly glad with the seating arrangement, as they rather preferred to not worry over what sort of strange things might end up in their food.

"AARG!" Ryoma yelled out uncharacteristically, "WATER! WATER!" Momoshiro hurriedly handed him a glass, which the boy downed in one gulp. He thanked his second-year sempai as he gasped for breath, still looking slightly green. Ryoma then threw a dirty look at Fuji, who happened to be sitting right next to him.

"Yes?" Fuji sweetly asked.

"Nothing." Ryoma muttered, opting not to say anything that he might regret later.

Momoshiro accidentally knocked over his glass of water, and drenched Kaidoh, who had the misfortune to be sitting across from him.

"You stupid oaf!" Kaidoh growled, jumping up in surprise and irritation at the sudden feeling of cold liquid.

"Sorry about that Kaidoh." Momoshiro tried to apologize, but failed to make it effective, as he was laughing his head off at the indignant look in his rival's face.

"Why you-!"

Ryoma sighed once again. He suddenly felt very old. The boy glanced over at the other two occupants of the table. Even the buchou was involved in an argument.

Fuji looked at the glass of opaque, white liquid that stood innocently on the table in front of him. In actuality, it was a look of distaste, but no one could tell, since all his looks basically looked the same anyhow.

But Tezuka could tell. Not that that ability gave him any added benefits to his life however, as this knowledge only served to annoy him more. Perhaps Fuji just allowed him to see his different moods in specific moments just for this purpose. "Fuji, just drink it."

The addressed boy cocked his head slightly to the side(still smiling of course), making a gesture as if sizing up his glass as one would do to an opponent. "But Tezuka…"

"It will help you grow taller." Tezuka added, knowing it would not really help matters.

Fuji started again, giving Tezuka his I-think-you're-weird smile, "But Tezuka, I'll grow taller anyway."

Tezuka twitched again in annoyance, "However, milk will help you grow taller than the amount you will grow without it." More futile attempts to encourage Fuji to do something when he didn't feel like it.

"Um… I don't really care though." Fuji replied, still smiling.

"Fuji-sempai, you don't like milk?" Ryoma smirked at the unexpected childishness of his presently-freshman sempai. "mada mada dane."

Fuji merely shrugged in response, not even fazed by the obvious provocation. "You can have it if you want, Echizen. It seems to me that you might need quite a bit of help growing yourself."

Ryoma pursed his lips, irritated at being unexpectedly provoked back in such a sore manner, "No, I don't want it." He raised an eyebrow. "and besides, I think Fuji-sempai needs more help than me."

"Hmm.." Fuji just stared at the cup even more, contemplating what he should do with it, until his idle thoughts were broken when Ryoma muttered something.

"Hmph, I didn't expect sempai would be scared of something like milk."

Complete provocation, Fuji knew, but it still grinded a bit at his brain. "Whatever gave you the idea that I was afraid of milk?"

"Aren't you?" Ryoma gave a self-satisfied smirk, realizing that a nerve had been touched.

"You would be wrong." Fuji kept smiling, although Tezuka could tell it was the kind of smile the boy wore when he was delighting in deceiving someone.

"Prove it."

"If you say so" Fuji then took the milk, and finished it quickly with not a change in his expression. "see?"

"…" Ryoma blinked, and then scowled, "I thought you disliked milk."

"I never said that." Fuji kept smiling. "I just didn't feel like drinking milk at the moment."

Inui scribbled out what he had recently just written down about the tensai from listening to the conversation going on nearby. _Hmmm… foiled by his cleverness once again. _Once more, Inui realized that he had failed to gather reliable data on Fuji.

After dinner, the boys all gathered in the large room that they were all to sleep in, and laid out their respective futons. "Hmm…" Eiji blinked, sitting cross-legged in the middle of his blanket. "I don't feel like sleeping just yet!" he exclaimed. "come on guys, let's do something."

Tezuka was about to say no, when a hand suddenly hit him upside the head, causing him to fall over from his sitting position. "Okay!" Fuji had answered happily, and him raising both his hands up suddenly had been the cause of Tezuka's surprise. "Oops, sorry Tezuka." The boy apologized cheerfully.

The freshman-buchou just sat up again, rubbing the side of his head while glaring at the smiling prodigy. Tezuka made sure to give him the I-hate-you look, although while at the same time knowing that that wouldn't change matters at all.

Ryoma was about to refuse too, but noticing that the buchou wasn't seeming to get a choice, he sighed. If the buchou was being forced to participate, then there was no way in hell Ryoma would be allowed to back out of whatever 'activity' his sempais wanted to do.

"I know! Let's play truth or dare!" Momoshiro exclaimed brightly, but then glared at Kaidoh as the latter snorted. "What?"

"That's such a girl game." He sneered, raising an eyebrow at the spiky-haired boy.

"Oh yea? Well, I bet you're just afraid to play it!" Momshiro shot back, his temper rising again.

"No I'm not!"

"Yea right! Then why don't you want to play?"

"You know what? Fine, bring it on! We'll do it!"

Inui snickered, practically gloating. "A great chance to collect great data."

Oishi sighed, worried about staying up too late affecting their energy the next day.

Kawamura was already nodding off, his eyes barely open. Holding a racket always seemed to tire him out for some odd reason the boy could not fathom.

Eiji practically bounced around "yay, yay!"

Tezuka just sat like a statue with his arms folded.

Fuji just smiled like usual.

Ryoma just dug out a can of Ponta from his bag.

Momoshiro and Kaidoh sat as far away as they could from each other, their backs turned.

"I'll pick whoever gets to go first." Inui stated, pulling out his plastic bag of name slips. He then reached into the bag and pulled out a name…

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Yayzers, another chapter.


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